Pachtman Theatrics: A Little Bit of Everything in the Bay Area

25Aug

We love the Bay Area, and one of the reasons why is the diversity of its strong, artistic communities. There is just so much going on! So it only makes sense that one of our longtime Bay Area producers would represent a variety of different San Francisco happenings: Pachtman Theatrics.

In addition to working with a ton of Bay Area performers, including BPT favorites like W. Kamau Bell, Bruce Pachtman produces three monthly events at StageWerx in Union Square: Solo Sundays, Previously Secret Information and Underground Sound.

Solo Sundays is a monthly showcase, focusing on select samplings of veteran virtuosos and top emerging talent in solo performance, from stand-up to storytelling to multimedia projects. Coming up this Sunday, August 28: “Meeting My Father,” where a woman meets her father who she had thought was dead for the past 20 years, “Be Careful What You Wish For,” where a woman in hard times has to make an even harder decision about whether to escape her past or stick to her roots, and “Jurassic Arc,” where a man goes on a religious mission to make a film showing man and dinosaur walking side-by-side.

Previously Secret Information is a “modern American storytelling show for grown-ups,” with one leg in stand-up and another in storytelling. These standalone performances, similar to Solo Sundays, feature comic but honest, thoughtful and revealing modern American stories for grown-ups. Coming up Sunday, September 18: Cassie J. Sneider’s “Teeth in a Box,” a story about a grandpa, Jeff Applebaum’s “Flying Hot Pizza,” which involves a mom throwing a hot pizza, and Joe Klocek’s “What Luke Skywalker and I Had In Common,” where Joe relates his coming-of-age to the story of Luke Skywalker.

In a departure from the previous two, Underground Sound focuses on emerging San Francisco music, but presented in a theater. It mostly focuses on acoustic music, but branches off into a diverse mix of the latest and greatest in the Bay Area, from throat-singing to Balkan Brass Bands. This month’s, which unfortunately already passed, featured Shaun Milella, Todd Brown and Tom Sway — but expect to find your new favorite band in a TBA line-up next month.

Keep an eye on everything Bruce is up to on his over here. Keep up the good work, Bruce!